By GottaLaff
Dear Friend:Quite the communicator, huh?
Thank you for contacting me to express your views regarding the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Guantanamo) and the closure of detention facilities there. I appreciate your views on this serious matter, and I welcome the opportunity to respond. As you may know, the Guantanamo facility has been used as a detention center following the attacks of 9/11 and the war against those who planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Although nearly 800 alleged belligerents have been detained in Guantanamo since 2002, only 229 prisoners remain - - the others have been transported to other countries for detention or release or, in very limited circumstances, transferred to the United States for prosecution. Many of the remaining Guantanamo detainees are from Yemen, which lacks reliable prisons and terrorist rehabilitation programs. Negotiations are ongoing to transfer some of the Yemenis to neighboring Saudi Arabia, instead. As many as 50 prisoners have already been approved to be sent for detention in other countries. While some people have advocated in favor of closing Guantanamo, the question remains of what to do with the detainees without endangering our national security. As one of the first acts of his Administration, President Obama signed an executive order pledging to close Guantanamo within a year. As part of this order, the Administration commenced a six-month review of the status of each detainee and what to do with any detainees who cannot be tried but who are too dangerous to release. The President also issued executive orders prohibiting extreme interrogation practices and temporarily suspending military tribunals for suspected terrorists. On May 20, 2009, the Senate passed an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 (P.L. 111-32), restricting the use of any funds to transfer, release, or incarcerate detainees currently detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to or within the United States. Additionally, the Senate approved an amendment requiring a national security threat assessment of every detainee now being held at the prison. On July 20, 2009, the Administration announced it would be extending its original six-month Guantanamo detainee status review for an additional six months, stating that the extension would not interfere with the President's pledge to close the base by the January 22, 2010, deadline. The situation in Guantanamo has long been a highly controversial and politicized issue. The detainees held in Guantanamo are enemy combatants who were caught in the war on terrorism and have demonstrated a callous willingness to exploit international law, our laws, and basic standards of human decency to advance their cause. These extremist Islamist terrorists are committed to attacking America and killing American civilians. It is also critical to remember that, of the detainees released from Guantanamo, at least 74 have already returned to fight with the extremists. As you may know, there was a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush concerning the rights of Guantanamo detainees to file habeas corpus petitions in federal court. On June 12, 2008, the Supreme Court held, in a 5-4 opinion, that aliens designated as enemy combatants and detained at Guantanamo have a constitutional right to file habeas corpus petitions challenging their detention. The Supreme Court also indicated, however, that properly constituted military commissions would provide sufficient protection of detainees' rights. In this year's National Defense Authorization Act (S. 1390), the Senate has created a system of military commissions that fully satisfies the requirements identified by the Supreme Court. The Senate also adopted an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and I cosponsored, expressing the sense of Congress that members of Al-Qaida and other terrorists captured on the battlefield should be tried by military commissions rather than in Article III federal courts. As these terrorists are war criminals and not common street criminals, I believe they should accordingly be tried as war criminals, within our military commissions. As our country continues to fight a war against international terrorists, it is my first priority to protect American lives and ideals. With the newly created system of military commissions, established to provide due process and fairness to detainees while also keeping Americans safe, I believe that the Senate has struck the appropriate balance. As the debate continues, I promise to keep your thoughts and views in mind. Thank you again for sharing your concerns with me. I hope you will continue to visit my website at http://lieberman.senate.gov for updated news about my work on behalf of Connecticut and the nation. Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress. Sincerely, Joseph I. Lieberman UNITED STATES SENATOR JIL:tcs
By the way, the points he made have been thoroughly disputed by Lt. Col. Barry Wingard.
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